Tag Archives: Alaska Department of Labor and Workforce Development
Dire condition of Alaska’s seafood industry has many causes and no easy fixes, experts say
State officials and industry leaders trying to rescue the ailing Alaska seafood industry are facing daunting challenges, recently released numbers show. The industry lost $1.8 billion last year, the result of low prices, closed harvests and other problems, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. State Rep. Bryce Edgmon, I-Dillingham, part of a task force charged with making recommendations on ways that lawmakers can help rescue the industry, said the solutions will be difficult and will require the full attention of his colleagues next year. Joe Bundrant, chief executive officer of Trident Seafoods, described how Russian fish production is part of a “perfect storm” of low prices, devaluation of Alaska’s product and a geopolitical landscape “like I’ve never seen anything close to it.” more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 14:36
Fishing jobs declined in Alaska in 2021
Last year brought another series of job losses for the Alaskan fishing industry, even after the massive declines in 2020. Thet’ Alaska Department of Labor and Workforce Development’s analysis of fishing jobs, which it releases annually, shows that 2021 did not bring a full recovery back to the industry the way it did to others after the low during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. Overall, the industry lost another 134 jobs, on top of the approximately 1,000 it lost in 2020. “While some harvests were notably large in 2021, no fishery significantly boosted its employment,” wrote Joshua Warren, an economist for the Alaska Department of Labor, in the report. “Larger harvests don’t necessarily translate to job growth.” Though there are commercial fisheries operating all over Alaska year-round, employment usually spikes from May through September for salmon harvesting. >click to read< 08:55
Salmon harvesting jobs lost in 2018 fisheries
A new report on seafood jobs in Alaska notes that fishery harvest employment declined by 4.9 percent in 2018, erasing most of the gains seen a year earlier. That total decline of about 407 average annual jobs brought the state’s overall employment in harvesting down to 7,924 posts, wrote state labor economist Joshua Warren in the November edition of Alaska Economic Trends,,, Salmon fisheries statewide lost 7.2 percent, or 328 jobs, >click to read< 10:47
